Despite demanding classes and the constant pressure of performing well in school, many Newbury Park High School students work jobs that serve as outlets for their interests.
Jalen Oben, junior, is no different. Oben is a student intern at the Westminster Free Clinic, a non-profit clinic in Thousand Oaks that provides medical care for low-income and uninsured people of Ventura County.
Every other Wednesday, Oben, along with other NPHS students, works at the clinic. During each shift, Oben is in charge of taking various patients through their health assessments to better understand the patients’ concerns. “We understand what’s going on and the [patient’s] chief complaint, and then we follow them to a doctor’s office and evaluate them,” Oben said.
While volunteering, Oben encounters challenges such as finding the main chief complaint of certain patients, but he has learned how to deal with them through experience. “When a lot of people come into the clinic, they might have a lot of issues going on. One person may come in [with a complaint] of dizziness and lightheadedness,” Oben said. “In reality, that could be a lot of things, so you really have to narrow it down with a series of questions.”
With shifts at the clinic lasting from 3-10 p.m., Oben has to strategically plan out his schedule, including time to do homework. “[During] the first few times I went to the clinic, I did my school work beforehand and then focused mainly on the clinic. Now I’ve found a balance in between where I can still perform well at the clinic, while also doing well in school,” Oben said. “It can involve doing homework in the mornings before school, [or] doing it days before.”
Through the challenges that come with the student internship, Oben appreciates how he can meet new people and be able to understand them. He feels that the time spent at the clinic has opened him up to a new perspective. “There’s a lot that people go through, and I think that before I joined [the] clinic, I didn’t necessarily understand that. Once I went through [the] clinic, I realized that we’re all people and sometimes we’re going through harder times. But that’s why places like Westminster Free Clinic exist,” Oben said.